Making It Happen
by LazyHouse
Summary: Familiar summoning. A spell that is supposed to bring forth a creature to be a lifelong servant to the spell caster. But unfortunately for Louise, it does not give her the magnificent creature that she wished for. Instead, she summons somebody who knows her very well.
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own Familiar of Zero**

* * *

It was early morning in the beautiful kingdom of Tristain. The birds were singing, the morning wind rustled the trees, and the sun shone over the land giving it surreal glow.

But unfortunately, it also meant that the sun was shining straight towards a certain magical academy, right through a window to a room lighting the face of its occupant.

A young girl who barely looked fourteen grumbled as she felt the sun rays tickle her closed eyes. She just wanted to sleep for a few minutes more, but her mind had already decided to start waking up causing her to finally open her eyes. Pink irises examined the surroundings as the mage in training finally noticed where she was.

"What, why am I?" she tiredly asked herself accompanied by some yawing. Instead of waking up in her comfortable bed she was by her desk.

After getting some of the sleepiness away from her eyes she tried remembering what she was doing last night. Her memory wasn't great nor even good when it came to mornings but at least she had some clues lying on her desk. There was a heavy book lying on the desk and judging from the wet spots of drool she had used it as a pillow.

She moved some of her long pink locks off it and tried to get a sense of what she was reading about. The page told something about what to do with cats and other household pets. She just gave up after going through some pages ahead and closed the book to examine its cover. As soon as she saw it her heart jumped to her throat and the tiredness in her vanished immediately.

The title of the book was _Familiar Bestiary._

Today was the springtime familiar summoning ritual! And if she remembered right it should have started this very morning!

She rose from her seat almost knocking it over as she began getting herself ready. Luckily she had fallen asleep in her school uniform, which consisted of a white button-up shirt, black skirt, thigh-high black socks, black shoes, and since she was in the second year she also had a black cape attached to her shirt by a pin with the school's emblem.

After finding her wand on the table she started brushing her locks and straightening her clothing. Soon she was in a somewhat presentable and now she was heading to the door leading to one of the long hallways of the academy.

She took a final glance towards a mirror. Her hair was still a mess but there was no way she had enough time to get it straight. Although her hair was one of the two things alongside her name that she could be prideful for, she simply didn't have time to linger in her room to fix it. So with an angry grunt, she threw open the door and readied herself for a fast sprint towards the summoning grounds.

Her rush lasted for two great steps before all of her movement was halted by a figure standing nearby her door.

"Oh, Louise what a pleasant surprise!" the figure said with a sultry voice that made the young mage grit her teeth. "And here I thought my charm wasn't working."

"Shut up Zerbst!" That was what Louise wanted to say but what came from her was just muffling as she was trapped in the blossom of her enemy. With a few well-placed punches to the ribs of her tormentor that only seemed to tickle her, she managed to free herself of the embrace.

"What the hell!" She immediately yelled once she had regained some air to her lungs. The cursed Zerbst woman just chuckled at her antics.

Kirche von Anhalt-Zerbst. The woman that Brimir himself seemed to have created to torment Louise was everything that Louise was not. While Louise had fair skin she had tanned and had a body that would turn eyes everywhere she went. She had long bright red hair that covered one of her amber eyes. Although she had the same uniform as Louise she had left a few of the buttons on her shirt open exposing her cleavage.

"Why are you standing at my door!" she demanded an answer from her rival blocking her path.

Kirche just gave a mocking sigh before addressing the petit mage. "Has little Louise already forgotten that I live right across the hallway?" she asked with a fake worry in her voice. "Besides I was about to make sure that you were awake! We wouldn't want to miss out on seeing you summon a magnificent creature now would we?"

Louise tried her best to hide her scowl she really did. But the damn Zerbst always managed to get under her skin and ruin her attempt to keep her stoic mask on. But what she said brought Louise back to her present problem and she tried to get around her tormentor.

"I hope you kill whatever you summon with those lumps of fat of yours!" Louise yelled while running around Kirche and finally getting past her.

"Don't worry! I can be gentle!" She heard Kirche yell as she rushed among the hallways. There was no way she would ruin her reputation even more by getting late from one of the most important rituals of her life.

After what felt like hours she had finally made it out of the academy and now she was heading towards a crowd of students that were gathered around a spot dedicated to summoning circles. She let out a sigh of relief as she managed to slip into the mass of students.

"Good morning students!" A balding man in his forties named Colbert yelled from the middle of the crowd. He had round glasses, dark robes, and magic staff that he was using to amplify his voice. "As you know today is the sacred Springtime Familiar Summoning ceremony! This is a once in a lifetime experience, so please, do not bother your classmates when they are doing the ritual."

There were a lot of excited murmurs going around everybody discussing what kind of familiars they would summon. The murmurs were cut off as professor Colbert cleared his throat to catch his students' attention. "I'm sure you all are very excited about this, but please calm down so we can proceed. Now that's out of the way, who wants to go first?"

There were plenty of hands raised and Colbert chose the one closest to him. Soon people began drawing their own magical circles on the ground and proceeded to summon creatures from all over the world with their magic.

At first, the students summoned mundane creatures such as cats, owls, and birds. But every now and then they summoned some creatures that made Louise worry about the ordeal. There was a gigantic snake, exotic-looking lion, a floating eyeball, and the biggest mole she had ever seen. Louise was already hoping to blend within the crowd and maybe disappear while nobody was looking.

It was then that her tormentor arrived in what she called "fashionably late". God, she hoped that the Zerbst would cause her familiar to die with her summoning circle. But for some reason despite that Kirche drew a simple-looking circle and gave a lazy incantation, she managed to summon a large fire salamander. She had read somewhere that those were extra rare and the stupid grin on her tormentor's face made her want to just get out of there. Then one of the girls had to go and summon a dragon!

If Louise felt scared at the beginning of the ritual she was absolutely terrified now. There was no way she could top any of this! She was starting to regret her claim yesterday about how she would summon the greatest creature ever to be seen.

"And there we have it!" Colbert exclaimed while admiring all of the familiars. "It seems that all have summoned a familiar." Louise's hopes rose when she heard the professor say that. Maybe she would be able to postpone the summoning. She was sure that if given more time she would be able to summon her familiar after her graduation!

"Colbert! Zero hasn't summoned anything yet!" Louise cursed as she heard her tormentor call her out with her mocking nickname.

"Ah, my bad!" Colbert said as he turned towards her, as did all the other students causing her to feel even more nervous. "Come here miss Vallière and make your preparations."

Louise gulped as she took a step forward. She could already hear the murmurs among her fellow classmates. It was hard to keep her stoic mask on as she heard the name "Zero" go around her.

They were betting on whether she would succeed on the summoning, would she fail entirely, or would she succeed to summon a creature just for her to blow it up to pieces. She wanted to turn to them and curse them for even suggesting that she would fail, but the jeers did have a point. Every time she tried to cast a spell it would blow up! No matter if it was a simple levitation spell or even alchemy, she would fail and cause whatever she was focusing on to explode.

So she just bit her tongue and took a tighter hold of her wand causing her knuckles to become white. She would show them what it meant to be Vallère! She would summon a creature that would put all the others in shame!

"Miss Vallière." A gentle voice pulled Louise out of her abit harsh fantasy. Colbert was giving her a calm smile as he gestured towards the summoning spot. "Would you start your summoning?"

Louise felt her anger and fear go away slightly with Colbert's smile. Right from the beginning when she came to the academy he was always there asking about how she was doing and offering some help. Of course, she denied all the help that the teachers offered her. She was a member of the Vallière family, she didn't need help.

How foolish she had been. She could easily remember how she treated every other noble like the lower noble class that they were. Her mother had taught her that it wouldn't be wise to cling on anybody in hopes that somebody else would fix her issue. So she just denied all the help from teachers and students alike and kept her chin high. She would have shown them what a true noble could do once she got rid of her small problem.

Unfortunately for her, her problem never went away. Soon the teachers stopped offering her help and the students started targeting her. Only Colbert kept offering help and he seemed to genuinely think that her explosions weren't failures. Sometimes he could offer the same kind of kindness that she thought only one of her sisters could give.

She heard the teacher cough and returned from her memories. "Sorry about that," she muttered to Colbert and returned to the task at hand.

After drawing her magical circle she pointed her wand towards it and began her incantation. "My name is Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, in the name of the great Five Pentagon Powers, following my fate, summon a familiar." She finished and felt her willpower flow through her. The circle started glowing and the wind around them started to speed up.

So far nothing exploded!

Was this it? Was this Louise's first-ever successful spell? She couldn't help but giggle slightly at the excitement. She could already see her classmates' faces frozen in awe as they stared at whatever she would summon.

As her happiness reached its peak, the very air around suddenly split causing her to lose her concentration. The second she lost her focus her circle stopped glowing before erupting in a gigantic explosion. It raised a cloud of dust and threw Louise a good few feets back. She landed painfully on her face and felt the ringing in her ears trying to split her head open.

With a grunt, she flipped herself on her back and tried to get a sense of the situation. Colbert accompanied by several other students were already at her side asking how she was feeling. Despite the ringing in her ears she could easily hear the people around herself and move.

Colbert let out a sigh of relief once he saw Louise get up all by herself. Then he redirected his gaze towards the dust cloud where Louise was staring as well.

"I-I failed?" she asked with a quivering voice. There was no way she could fail this! It was her last chance to finally be recognized as a proper mage. Failing the ritual would mean that she wasn't allowed to continue studying at the academy.

Colbert looked towards the smoke and the students who were trying to tame their panicking familiars. If this was going to happen every time she tried summoning, he couldn't let her do it nearby others to prevent any possible injuries. He sighed and turned towards Louise who was at the brink of crying. "Maybe we should stop for now. But don't worry I'm sure-"

Whatever he was about to suggest was cut off as he heard a string of profanities in Germanian coming from the cloud. Even Louise's face morphed from sad to shocked and outright horrified. He turned towards a nearby blue-haired girl and was about to ask her if she could use her magic to blow out the dust cloud. But before he could even ask a whirlwind formed in the middle of the cloud, pushing it away.

There in the middle of what used to be her summoning circle stood an angry young man who seemed to around his twenties. He was quite tall yet lean. He had tanned skin and pitch-black hair comped towards the back of his head.

If Louise would have to have guessed who he was. She would have immediately said commoner because only they would use such profanities. But his clothing spoke of a different tale.

He had black dress shoes, pants, and a white dress shirt worn under a dark blue vest. His clothing seemed to be made of the finest silks confirming him as somebody with wealth. If Louise had any doubts left those were cleared away once she saw the ornament silvery blade on his hip. A small feeling of fear rooted itself in her as she began thinking about the worst scenarios about who he might be.

Colbert seeing the situation unfold and hearing the murmurs going around them, decided to step forward and greet the young man. "Umm… hello there mister. I am professor Colbert, who might you be?"

The young man gave Colbert a confused look but didn't say anything. He just looked around himself in deep thought. His eyes landed on Louise and his eyes widened slightly. Meanwhile, Louise was mentally praying to Brimir she hadn't just summoned another person as a familiar. But despite her dilemma, she couldn't take her eyes off his for some reason.

"Greetings." He finally said something. What happened next made Louise want to crawl under a rock and just die.

He raised his hand which was glowing in dim white light and made a small movement with it. Suddenly there was a gentle breeze blowing across the grounds and blew away the dust that had settled on to his clothing. Immediately as he did that the student body burst into a roar murmurs as he just confirmed Louise's worst fears.

'_Magic! I summoned a noble!'_ she screamed in her head. She didn't even question where he kept his wand as she thought about what just happened. Out of all of her failures, it had to be her success that would doom her! There was no telling what happens to her once the word gets out that she has summoned a noble. Her family will surely disown her after this and she will be punished by the man's own family.

While Louise was panicking the young man took a few steps towards her. He then leaned slightly forward to bring himself to the same eye level with her.

He cleared his throat to get her attention. "Does your name happen to be Louise?" he asked with a toneless voice that just made Louise's fear rise to a whole new level.

He knew her! If he knew her it means that his family knows her family. Her fate was officially sealed, she was sure of that, but she managed to collect some of the remnants of her "rule of steel" and answer, "Y-yes!"

That was all she got out.

There was a silent pause as they kept looking at each other and other students were just following the situation. "William," the young man introduced himself, breaking the silence and held his hand out for her to shake. She took a hold of it and while they were locked in an awkward handshake he spoke up, "I'm sorry I just got to make sure. What is your full name?"

"Louis F-françoise Le de La Vallière." She tried answering and failed to say her own name properly.

But it didn't seem to bother him. Instead, there was a faint grin on his face and he seemed to be struggling not to laugh at the moment. It wasn't long before he was letting out some chuckles.

"Damn mom! You're so tiny!" he exclaimed, making Louise's eyes fully open as she kept staring into his pink colored eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

**I do not own Familiar of Zero**

* * *

A left hand was holding onto a pair of glasses while the other hand rubbed its round lenses with a sleeve. The glasses were brought near the end of a wooden staff. A man muttered a small incantation and waited for the results.

Nothing happened.

Colbert let out a sigh as he set his round glasses back over his deep blue eyes. It seemed that nobody had pranked him by setting an illusion spell on his glasses again. Maybe somebody was currently making him see and hear things? He dismissed that theory quickly. His students around him seemed also just as lost as he was. Only some silent murmurs reached his ears every now and then.

He directed his eyes towards the cause of his lesson taking a turn from a serious rite of passage into the awkward situation they were in. In the middle of the student body and some still slightly panicking familiars, stood the young man named William and Louise who at the moment was showing her best imitation of a statue.

He really wished that the last summoner would have summoned anything else other than a human. Brimir knew she needed to. He remembered how from day one of Louise's school life she had thrown herself at the study. But despite how great her knowledge involving the theoretical aspects of magic was, doing practical magic was… problematic for her.

And if he was being honest, her temper could really use some work. But he understood her. After all, she came from one of the most influential families in Tristain. She had to carry the reputation of her family name on her shoulders and she had to withstand being targeted by other students.

He tried to stop the bullying, he really did. But there was no stopping the young students. And thanks to Louise's temper, she offered plenty of reasons for her being targeted. At least the bullying somewhat got lesser once the students became wiser, or got bored.

Another sigh escaped his lips as he stepped forwards Louise and the young man who was without a doubt, a noble. He just hoped that the situation could be solved easily.

* * *

He was in the past, there was no doubt about it. That was what William thought as he saw people around him using wands. And the fact that he was standing right in front of his future mom.

It was either that or he was somewhere far beyond the known land where most of the people still used wands and where there existed a perfect doppelganger of his mother when she was younger. Oh well, he would get his answer once the day turned into the night.

But focusing on more important matters he shifted his gaze towards the pinkette in front of him.

He really should have said something else other than blurting out the first thing that came to his mind. The younger version of his mom looked to be frozen between being dumbfounded and horrified. It was actually starting to scare him how she had ceased to move at all.

"Alright everyone, the class is dismissed! Return to the academy!" His line of thinking was cut off when he heard somebody who he presumed was the teacher exclaim. That caused another wave of chatter circle around them but it stopped as quickly as it had begun once the teacher yelled with a firm voice, "Now!"

Most of the students followed their teacher's order and started casting some spells before levitating themselves towards the castle-like structure. Some tried to stay behind and see what would happen. But after some receiving a glare from the balding teacher, the rest of the students decided to do the same as others.

It wasn't long until the three of them were left behind standing on the summoning grounds. Colbert turned towards Louise who seemed to have regained some of her bearings back. "Miss Vallière. You should return to the dormitory and try to have some rest. I'm sure you need it."

Louise took her time processing Colbert's words. At the moment she really couldn't trust herself. After a minute she managed to give a small nod to her teacher. Louise gave a final glance towards William before quickly walking towards the academy.

Now it was only the two men left standing in the morning sun. William was about to follow the pinkette but decided not to. He didn't think he would do any good by freaking out his future mom even more. It almost made him chuckle as he compared his mom to the young version of her.

The professor beside him took a deep breath before he said, "Welcome to Tristain's academy. I am professor Colbert, who might you be good sir?" The balding teacher even gave a small bow towards him. Colbert couldn't tell what kind of noble he was or what his influence was alike. So the professor opted to be as polite as he could be, just in case.

William just lifted his brow. It wasn't every day he was called a sir nor did he get bowed at. He gave his hand to Colbert. "William de la Vallière and you don't have to call me sir," he said and gave Colbert's hand a firm shake.

As they were locked in a handshake Colbert couldn't stop himself from comparing the man in front of him to the heads of the Vallière family. Despite spending a long minute on it, the only detail that Colbert managed to find on him that could connect him to the Vallières was his pink eyes.

"Alright miss- mister Vallière." Colbert quickly corrected himself. "I'm not sure how such an unfortunate situation as this could even occur but I'm very certain that we can discuss and solve this predicament without any major problems. We should seek headmaster Osmond's advice so I'll have to ask you to follow me."

"Very well, lead the way."

Colbert gave a small nod before turning towards the academy. "Levitation," he said and pointed his staff towards his feet. A feeling of weightlessness grabbed Colbert and soon his feet were off the ground and he was floating towards the academy.

As he was floating he turned in the air just so he could see if William was following. To his surprise, the young mystery man was quietly floating beside him. Colbert hadn't heard him say any incantations and he wasn't using a wand.

William couldn't help but chuckle at the professor as his eyes were glued to his hand. William had slightly raised his hand and let his magic flow through it causing his hand to shine in dim white light.

"How are you doing that?" William gave a small laugh at the professor who had just blurted out the question with pure amazement.

Colbert seemed to be a bit embarrassed after he had blurted out his question so William decided to show his hand to the balding man. "I'm currently pushing my willpower in my hand so I can do spells without the use of focus items. It gets rather easy after a couple of years practicing flow control."

Although Colbert didn't show it, he was beyond intrigued by the way the mystery man was doing his spells. For as long as there were mages, they always needed wands, staffs, and other magical focus items in order to do magic. Yet here Colbert floated beside a wandless mage.

The professor made a mental note to ask more questions regarding William's magic. But for now, he decided just to float quietly and let William examine the academy. William was looking at the academy like one of those noble visitors visiting from a different country.

'_So this is Tristain's academy?'_ There were plenty of things that William didn't expect to see during his lifetime. But seeing and actually being at his parents' old academy took the cake.

* * *

Louise had a rough day. And it wasn't even midday yet!

Currently, she was in her room lying on her bed. At first, she had tried to get some sleep, maybe all of this had been just a bad dream. But after an hour or two, she realized that she wasn't going to get any sleep, which meant that what had happened wasn't a dream.

She kept staring at the ceiling while occasionally glancing at her desk and at the empty letter on it. She was supposed to write to her family about her familiar. But how could she tell her family that she had summoned a noble who might have hit his head when he arrived. There was no way she could be his mother, he was older than her and they didn't look anything alike!

But one thing was guaranteed, and that was the fact that he was a noble. It wasn't hard to imagine what her parents would do to her once they found out about the situation. Even her sisters couldn't save her from this one. They barely managed to convince her parents to let her go study at the academy in the first place. At this point, the only thing she was good for was to strengthen her family ties, but then again who would want a magicless noble as a wife. She was sure that her current engagement was going to be cut and then she would be given to anyone willing to take her.

Her self deprivation was cut off by some knocks against the door of her room. Wasn't she supposed to try and get some rest? After grumbling a little she lifted herself off her bed and walked to the door.

Once she opened the door she was greeted by a woman with green hair and round glasses over her eyes. She was wearing the same kind of dark robes that the other teachers wore but Louise knew that she was just Headmaster's secretary called miss Longueville.

"Greetings miss Vallière. I was asked to bring you to Osmond's office," Longueville said and waited for the pinkette's response.

Louise tried to hide the turmoil inside her but judging from the secretary's worried look she was doing a bad job at it.

"Is this not good time for you?"

"No, I-I was just not expecting anybody," Louise lied. She knew that this was going to happen, liked it or not. She just wasn't ready to face the headmaster yet. But after a while, she began mentally repeating the rule of steel in her head before taking the few steps needed to go outside and started following the secretary.

If the headmaster himself wanted to see her, it wouldn't be wise to keep him waiting.

* * *

"I see, this could be problematic," a very old man with a long white beard said to the mystery man standing in the old man's office next to Colbert.

The old man was known as headmaster Osmond or just Old Osmond for short. Nobody truly knew his exact age and he liked to hear some rumors go around about his age. Some claimed that he was easily over 100 years old while others might claim that it was just his beard and white hair that made him seem older.

But one thing was certain and that was the fact that he had lived for plenty of decades. Yet despite his long life, he had never come across this kind of situation.

He gave a short sigh before raising himself off his seat near his desk. "To be honest Colbert and I already had some doubts but after all, those are only that, doubts." He glanced towards another desk in his office just to be sure Longueville wasn't there to hear them. He had ordered her to go and retrieve Louise to his office while he, Colbert, and William exchanged some serious words. "And she isn't the first or won't be the last mage with problematic magic. But if what you're saying is true then it explains a lot."

"I wouldn't lie."

William's short reply made Osmond let out a heavy sigh. If a word got out of this there was no telling what would happen to Louise. At best she would only be used by the crown to strengthen the political ties or she would be branded as a heretic and suffer a horrifying fate. He gave a small walk through the office, trying to see if his silencing spell was being breached. So far nothing seemed out of the ordinary so he walked back to his desk and sat down.

"Alright, if your river metaphor is true then you can do whatever you see fit. But focusing on the present for now. Colbert, would you be kind and show where he will be staying?" Colbert gave a small nod and asked William to follow him again. Soon both of them had left the office leaving Osmond to be with his thoughts.

He let out a long sigh before reaching out for a secret drawer in his desk. After opening it he took out a decorative pipe. His old friend in Germania had gifted it to him and said that it was supposed to ease the stress. Just as he was about to light it up he heard a familiar pattern of knocks on the office door. He quickly shoved his pipe back to its drawer and waited for his secretary to enter.

As he expected, it wasn't long before miss Longueville stepped inside the office with a trouble maker he had met plenty of times before. His secretary took a seat near her desk and began sorting through the reports on her desk. Meanwhile, Louise just stood in the middle of the office looking like she had walked into a lion's den.

Osmond cleared his throat before addressing the student. "Miss Vallière I'm sure you know why you're here this morning."

Louise's face took up a scared expression. "Y-yes, I'm here because of the su-summoning ritual," she answered with a quivering voice like a child who admitted doing something bad.

It made Osmon feel a bit weirded out. Usually, when they met in his office, it would be because of her explosive magic. He had lost the count of how many times she had caused some property damage. And despite the damage caused by her wasn't too serious, it started to make a hole in the academy's budget. Sure the academy was supported by many noble families and the crown itself, but hiring some earth mages every time to fix the damages was starting to get on his nerves.

So usually, he would scold her for her lack of carefulness and that would be that. But he never expelled her from the academy. She came from one of the most influential families in Tristain and was a prime example of a model student that he wished there were more of at the academy. Of course minus the destructive magic.

"Yeah, you are correct. And I'll just get to the point." Louise's fear rose as the headmaster took up a more serious expression on his face. "As you know the Springtime Familiar Summoning ceremony is a rite of passage. Failing it would prevent advancing to the second year. In other words, you couldn't continue studying here.

"And despite the fact that you… managed to summon a man. It is only half of the ritual. In order for you to pass, you would have to bind him. But unfortunately for you, he is a noble and it is ruled by the crown that "no mage shall use magic to affect other mages free will". Therefore you can't bind him and I can't let you pass. I apologize but your status as a student will be taken away."

As Osmond finished Louise's face lost all of its colors and she kept staring at the floor while millions of thoughts rushed through her head. She was supposed to finally learn to do magic at the academy. She was supposed to figure out her problem and fix it. But what was she supposed to do now?

Her thoughts became darker and darker as she thought about how her family would react. If it wasn't for Old Osmond's cough she would have cried right then and there. Already slightly bloodshot eyes raised their gaze off the floor to the old man who had a small smile on his face.

"However." He stretched the word before continuing. "The circumstances involving your summoning ritual are truly otherworldly. You managed to summon someone from time that has yet to come to pass. And he has shown us magical techniques that could revolutionize the way we do magic. It would be foolish to let this kind of chance slip between our fingers. But first, we should get familiar with his magic and who better to do that than a student with remarkably good skills in theoretical aspects of magic!"

Louise was at a loss for words as she tried to proceed with what the headmaster was saying. "You mean-"

"Yes, there is a way for you to continue to study here!" He cut her off before explaining it more to the confused looking pinkette. "He has agreed to teach you. And although you might not be a student anymore, you can choose to be an apprentice instead. But only if you are willing, I've… heard what he had said about you. So, you can refuse if you want."

With that, he left the question in the air and waited for Louise's answer. In the meantime, Louise was pondering about if she should do what the headmaster suggested and become William's apprentice, or if she should deny the offer. She liked to think that she took a good minute before answering but in reality, she had already come up with a decision the second Old Osmond had stopped talking.

"Yes. I-I accept."

"Wonderful!" Old Osmond exclaimed before turning his gaze towards his secretary. "Longueville. Could you pass me miss Vallière's registration." The green-haired woman stopped writing what she was writing and used her quill as a wand and made a piece of paper float to Osmond's desk. He thanked his secretary and took out an empty form before he started filling it with some information from the paper given to him.

He then presented the new form to Louise and gave her his quill in order for her to sign it. Without a second thought, she wrote her name on it and let Osmond store it on his desk.

"Congratulations. You can still keep your room and use the services provided by the academy. And before I forget I should tell you that Mister Val- your new teacher has asked me to inform you that he would like to meet you next morning. But for now, I suggest you take a day off and get rested. And if you have any questions, ask them now."

Louise didn't ask anything. She just gave a short goodbye to him before walking out of the office.

As soon as the office door closed Osmond let out a sigh of relief. This was going to be an interesting year. He heard a small squeak coming from his desk and he reached for a white mouse that had climbed on his desk. He left his palm open letting his familiar jump on it and raised it in front of his face.

"What is it Mótsognir?" he asked from the mouse. It squeaked something which made the headmaster raise his brows. "Purple you say? Never thought Longueville would do something like that."

If looks could kill, Old Osmond would have already turned into dust by the green-haired secretary's glare directed at him and his mouse.

* * *

**AN:**

**I have no excuses as to why it took me so long to write this. Anyways my English is far from perfect so feel free to point out any grammar errors that I've made.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I do not own Familiar of Zero**

* * *

_Honest Prince _had finally arrived at the library!

Or that's what they told her. Sure her friends could be playing with her, again, but she wouldn't want to miss out on a chance to read her favorite saga's second part. She had been waiting for it for ages!

So with a small hop in her steps, she walked along the pathway in the magical academy's courtyard, towards the hearth of knowledge called the library.

Normally she would still be at the servants' quarter getting dressed in her black dress and white apron that marked her as a maid. But this morning she had decided to get up an hour or so early just in case.

There was no telling if others were after the same book as she was. Maybe some students knew about it as well! She quickly shook her head dismissing the thought. There was no way they would be already up.

From what she has seen and experienced, the noble youngsters sure valued morning sleep, sometimes even more than some poor vases. And on top of that, she was up and at it before even her own coworkers were up.

Was she beyond tired and did her deep blue eyes feel like someone had poured salt in them?

Yes.

But it allowed her to be one more step ahead of the competition. Despite what others might have said about her book tastes, she knew they were secretly just trying to cover themselves so they could snatch the book right from her fingertips.

The only people besides her who seemed to be awake were teachers and other staff preparing for the morning classes. Luckily for her, all of them seemed to be focusing on their jobs which hopefully meant that they weren't interested in the book.

It was worth getting up early, and on the plus side, she got to see the academy in peace. The sun had barely risen above the horizon coloring some of the academy's towers' tops with an orange hue.

And so far she didn't run into any student. She knew that they were the future "protectors of common folk", and she shouldn't think ill of them. But some of them just kept making the servants run around while they themselves bragged about the noble status and how it was an honor to be serving them.

Sometimes she wished she could just break something and make them clean it up while she-

"Good morning!"

She heard a loud shriek coming from the courtyard. It wasn't even a second after when she realized she had let out that sound.

After that, she finally turned towards her back letting her almost neck length black hair swirl in the air. Judging from the young voice that greeted her, she expected to see a young nobleman with a mean look on his face.

Maybe she had said what she was thinking out loud and he happened to hear her! There was no telling what would happen to her. Slowly but surely she lifted her gaze from her shoes towards the one who had greeted her.

What she saw was a young man who was quite tall and was without a doubt a noble judging from his clothing.

Soon the sense of relief took a hold of her as she saw a neutral look on his face. And his eyes didn't seem to hold any malice, instead, they showed confusion and a touch of surprise.

"Umm… is something wrong?" he asked sounding very sincere.

It took about a few seconds before she managed to respond. "Ah, sorry I was just startled that's all." She tried to sound more professional which just made him raise his eyebrow. "Well, umm… how can I serve you this fine morning?"

The young man didn't show disapproval which made her feel better, but he also showed slight discomfort that made her more confused than scared.

"Aright," he simply began. "To be honest, I'm lost and you seemed to be free so I thought I could ask you for some directions. That is if you have the time?"

The way he said it caught her off guard. It wasn't every day when a noble sounded so polite especially when talking to a servant, and he even asked if she wasn't busy.

So with a proper smile she easily answered, "Well, I'm not in a hurry so you can go ahead and ask."

She had to take a closer look at him just to make sure if he was a noble. He didn't seem to be wearing the signature student cape, but his looks did remind her of a rumor going around.

He gave short thanks and dug out a piece of paper from his pockets. After unfolding it he gave it to her. "I was told miss Vallière's room was at the tower of wind. But I simply can't find my way there."

The paper held simple instructions on where to go, it honestly made her wonder how he managed to get himself lost. But if she had to guess this was his first time at the academy, so it wasn't out of the question that he didn't notice the color of the towers.

She took a step closer to him and pointed towards a nearby tower. "We are currently near the tower of void, so the tower of wind is the second tower that way," she finished and pointed to her left.

He took the paper and gave a small bow. "Thank you miss…"

"Siesta."

"Siesta?" She nodded a couple of times. "Well, okay thank you miss Siesta. It was a blessing that I ran into you. Oh, and if we meet again you can call me William."

"Actually mister," she said stopping just as he was about to walk away. She contemplated if she should go with him and make sure that he would actually arrive at his destination. That way she could even ask about a rumor that was circulating between the servants. "I could personally show you the way to the second year dormitories."

"Just call me William and it wouldn't hurt to have a guide. But if you have other duties to attend to then I won't be in your way."

She gave a small smile and waved her hand. "I'm not in a hurry now, so I have time to show you around." And the library was only a small detour away so she wasn't really wasting any time. "But only if you're willing to answer a small question."

He scratched his head for a second before shrugging his shoulders. "Eh, go ahead."

She started walking and beckoned him to follow. They walked a good minute before Siesta slowed her walk and turned towards him.

"Do you happen to be the noble who was summoned by miss Vallière?" she asked bluntly to which he simply nodded. "Yeah, I had a hunch." It was the talk of yesterday and maybe talk of all time. There weren't many cases where a noble was summoned. "Pardon me for inquiring, but I heard a rumor about you calling miss Vallière mom and I just find it hilarious."

"Yes, I did." William's answer caught her off guard but she managed to keep the surprise off her face. "She is _technically_ my mother after all."

Now it was near impossible to stop the look of uneasiness from forming on her face. He saw her look and motioned her to ask whatever was in her mind.

"Erm… how could you be her son? I mean as far I'm sure you are older than miss Vallière herself."

"Simply put I'm from the future." Siesta raised her brow in confusion and some doubt.

William scratched his head for a second again as he began thinking about how to explain his current situation. After a while, a metaphorical lamp lit up over his head.

"Does the story _Warrior's past_ ring a bell?" For a few seconds confusion conquered Siesta's face before she remembered a story by the same name and her eyes went wide. "I see it does exist."

"You know _Warrior's past_?" she asked with a rather excited voice. There weren't many who had read that story so Siesta let her excitement get the better of her.

After a minute she managed to tone down her excitement and started thinking about why he had decided to bring the story up. It wasn't long before she connected the dots. "So are you here to defeat someone before they get stronger?"

"Not exactly," he answered but shortly stopped to think about something. "Now that I think about it, its sequel is a better fit for my case. But far as I remember correctly, it doesn't exist yet."

With that Siesta's interest peaked. He seemed polite and liked to read, and atop of all that he knew about stories yet to be told.

* * *

Some say that the duchess of the Vallière family is the coldest and the most serious woman they have ever met. Those who have worked under her would say that it would be an understatement. But her family knew that there was something else beneath her icy facade.

And Louise knew exactly what to do to bring out some of that warmth buried deep within her mother.

It was rather simple. All she had to do was to pick a nice day when her mother didn't have any duties to attend to or anything else to do. And invite her for a nice cup of tea outside in the warmth of the sun.

In fact, she was currently doing just that. They were sitting outside enjoying the tea and the weather right next to their picnic table in comforting silence.

It was true that it was nearly impossible to make the Commander of Manticore Knights to smile. But with enough honey and sugar, Louise managed to make her mother's lip twitch slightly upwards every time she took a sip from her cup.

Days like these were truly a blessing for the youngest Vallière. Her oldest sister wasn't there to judge her and she didn't see her mother look at her in disapproval.

"So, Louise de La Vallière," her mother said in a rather cold tone which caught Louise off guard. Did she do something wrong?

The clatter of porcelain could be heard as the Duchess set her teacup on the table and turned towards her daughter. Louise hoped to see her mother's neutral look but what she saw instead could freeze an entire small army.

"I received a report from the academy saying that you summoned a nobleman." The tone that her mother used demanded answers and promised pain at the same time making Louise feel a drop of sweat roll across her brow.

"I… I…" she stammered as she tried to get a word out of herself. But no matter how hard she tried she couldn't answer, as if the air itself around herself tried to choke her.

The Duchess kept glaring at her making her heart pound in her chest. With every second her heart hit harder and harder until she could have sworn that anybody could hear it if they just stood near her.

Just as her mother reached for her wand, the world around her shifted and twisted until she found herself sitting on her bed out of breath. She checked her surroundings to see herself in her own dorm room.

"Don't worry it was just a dream," she reassured herself while trying to slow down her heartbeat. With a quick glance she saw that she had fallen asleep in her academy uniform again, but this time she had actually awoken in her bed.

The clock on the wall showed that it was way too early for her to be awake and she wondered what had awoken her. Sure sometimes she experienced some intense dreams. But usually, she liked to sleep like a log so it puzzled her why she was already up.

Her answer came soon after in a form of knocking on her door. The sleepiness in her eyes moved away to make room for annoyance and she raised herself off her bed and walked to her door.

"What!" she half yelled half asked as she slammed the door open. Only for her to freeze in her place when her pink irises met another set of its kind.

"Well, good morning miss- miss Vallière," William greeted awkwardly as if he didn't know what to call her. "For a second here I thought I was knocking the wrong door."

He should have asked for Siesta to lead him straight to Louise's room. Sure it was easy to navigate the academy outside, but he could have sworn that stepping _inside _the towers was like setting a foot in a maze.

After bringing himself back to the present he found the pinkette just standing still and holding on to the door.

Louise on the other hand didn't say anything. She just stood on her spot while occasionally rubbing her eyes. After a minute she managed to get some of her bearings back and she asked, "W-why are you h-here?"

He dug out a piece of paper from his pocket and replied, "We have a classroom A4 reserved from eight to twelve."

Louise narrowed her eyes and took a look at her clock before turning towards William. "It isn't seven yet!" she exclaimed while trying to keep her voice calm.

William just raised his brow and looked at her like she had said something completely out of the blue. "The earlier the better, like you said."

The only thing she could do now was to let out a long sigh and contemplate if she could just close the door and go back to bed. But she had already risen and her "mentor" was waiting for her.

"Let- let me get my notes and I'll be with you in a minute." He gave a small nod and took a few steps away from the door.

'_What am I going to do?'_ Louise asked herself as she picked up her notes and her quill. Maybe she could just try the summoning ritual again, but there was a chance she would end up just summoning the wandless mage again.

She looked over her shoulder through her door to the hallway where he was waiting. There was no backing out now, so maybe she should just go with it and possibly learn new things about magic.

The thought of learning something entirely new about magic usually made her feel excited. Only if her mentor hadn't hit his head causing him to think that she was his mother, things would have been a lot easier.

After one long deep breath, she turned around and stepped outside to face the challenges of the day.

William was leaning against the wall right next to her door. "Are you ready miss Vallière?" he asked again, sounding quite unsure for some reason. He shifted his full weight back to his feet and asked, "Umm… can I just call you mom, 'cause you know… it's just weird for me to call you miss Vallière."

Louise narrowed her eyes while trying to think how hard he hit his head. "I would appreciate it if you called me miss Vallière, but if you have to then you can call me Louise or a student when it's just the two of us."

"Oh, alright." It was odd calling his mother anything else than "mom". But maybe with time, he could break his habit.

He was about to ask if he could call her student in the public since he essentially was a teacher, but to his surprise, the pinkette was already walking down the hall.

With a small huff, Louise faced towards him and asked, "Are you coming or what? Classroom A4 is this way." She pointed behind herself with her thumb and waited for him.

He gave a small nod and started following after her. Originally he hoped he could have asked about the general things like, what her schedule was like or if she had any, how things ran at the academy, and where he could find a map. But he might have blown his chance judging from his pupil's constant frown and small mutters.

Yet despite the not so great start, a small smirk formed on his face as he looked towards the young girl in front of him. With a sigh he muttered, "So this is how it begins."

* * *

Normally the classrooms were buzzing with life as the students kept talking between each other much to the teachers' displeasure. But one classroom was completely silent, the only sound echoing through it was the clicks of a clock on a wall.

Yet despite the silence, there technically was a lecture being held between two people inside the room. One was currently sitting in the front row while holding her quill over some notes and patiently waiting for her mentor who at the moment was leaning against the teacher's desk.

Louise made a small fist and coughed into it in hopes to gain the wandless mage's attention. It was starting to bother her how she told him everything there was to know about how things ran at the academy, but when it was his turn to teach her, he seemed to get completely lost.

Her cough managed to drag him away from his thoughts and he responded by giving the pinkette a questioning look.

"Are- Aren't you supposed to start the class or something?" Louise asked as politely as she could.

William just shrugged before taking a couple of steps away from the desk. "Well, I was never good at lecturing. Hopefully, I don't mess this up." He rubbed his chin while going back to thinking for a minute. Louise was just about to try to get his attention again but William took a few steps closer and cleared his throat before she could do anything.

"I guess if we have time, we could go over basics before going for lunch." He checked the clock on the wall noticing it was getting closer to breakfast. "I'll tell you how to train for wandless magic and you could- why are you already taking notes?"

The hand moving the quill stopped and its holder lifted her gaze off the paper. "Hmm… oh yeah I was just making notes about concussions."

"About what?"

"Erm… nothing! Just keep doing what you were doing," she said quickly and made sure to keep eye contact with her mentor.

"Umm… okay." William took a few more steps towards the front row until he was standing right in front of her. "Well, I might as well teach you about the key to wandless magic."

With that Louise took a better writing position. Now she would finally receive some proper education. Maybe she would be able to learn a new way of doing magic which she could use right after this!

Her mentor took a more professional stand and tried to make himself appear more like an actual teacher. "The key to wandless magic is something called, intentional willpower depletion."

Before she could have even begun writing, she couldn't help but to stop and look at him with a look of doubt and disbelief.

"Did I hear something about willpower depletion?" She hoped that she had heard wrong but she was confirmed by her mentor's small nod.

There were countless risks involving mage's magical strain. If a mage were to try and push their willpower to the limit, they at first would feel very tired and exhausted. But if they would choose to push even further, it could lead to coma or even worse.

Louise had read about mages who had sacrificed themselves by performing incredible feats of magic that could make square mage awe. But those usually only happened in stories or folklore.

It did explain how nobody had figured out how to do wandless magic. Who would willingly go through such a thing just to test something? But a second thought arose in her as she thought about it. There had been plenty of cases where mages suffered from willpower depletion. Although it wasn't highly likely, there was still a chance somebody could have discovered it by accident.

"Umm… should I be concerned?" Louise couldn't help but ask. William on the other hand just inhaled as a troubled look came over his face.

"Well, there is a chance," he began not easing the pinkette's worry. "A very small chance but still a chance! That your heart will stop beating."

Louise's face twisted into discomfort and she just let out a small worried hum escape her mouth.

"But worry not, for it can only occur if you lose consciousness." He tried to reassure his student which didn't seem to help at all. "Besides I know for a fact that nothing bad will happen to you."

"How can you tell?" Louise asked once she remembered she should be writing everything down.

She quickly started writing everything he had told her while still keeping her ear out to hear what he would have to say.

"It's rather simple. If you would suddenly die then I would be never born and all of this wouldn't have happened," she gave him another look of disbelief and annoyance with a hint of anger which made him relive some not so nice memories of his home.

Just as he was about to ask what was wrong, Louise just lifted her index finger making him wait as she was finishing something on her notes. After a second she set her quill in the inkwell next to her notes and rubbed the bridge of her nose while letting out a long sigh.

"Just… please stop with these games," she began in a toneless voice before an angry look came over her face and she pointed towards him. "You are not my son!" she yelled and pointed towards herself. "Nor am I your future mom!"

With that, she slumped on her own seat and after a small breathing pause, spoke more calmly, "Just stop your nonsense about time travel and please, tell me who you really are."

Once she looked back towards William she saw his look of confusion with a hint of disappointment. Without saying a word he silently walked to an empty seat right next to her and sat down on it.

He gave a small chuckle as he said, "I wouldn't lie. 'Honesty can be powerful if used right,' that's what my brother taught me."

He hoped to see a look of realization on Louise's but to his dismay, she still wore her neutral mask. It wasn't long before a new idea popped in his head, and a small smile formed on his lips.

"How about I'll tell you a little secret. It could cause some problems, but I'm sure it will make your day!" Louise just lifted her brow, but at least he knew she would be listening. "I could give you a hint about your element or I could tell who you-"

Before he could finish he found himself pulled slightly downwards by his vest. The hands which held him in a bow belonged to none other than his student.

"My element, now."

It wasn't a simple demand, it was an order born out of years of desperation and anger and now all of it was focused directly at him. But despite her harsh glare and her actions. She was still at least a head shorter than him and he had already gotten used to even more frightening glares.

Well, that was what he told himself as he felt a small droplet of sweat form on his brow. Still, he managed to keep himself together after experiencing a not so pleasant short flashback at the moment and took a hold of her hands and pried them off himself.

"You know this suit wasn't cheap," he pointed out while checking out his vest and straightening any wrinkles formed from the previous stretching. "But at least my ear is still intact so that's great."

With a glance towards his apprentice, he saw her still glaring at him like she was ready to jump at his throat at any given time. So he made a silent prayer and hoped that what he was about to say wouldn't cause a figurative, or a literal explosion.

He took a short deep breath and asked, "Can you list me the elements that form the holy Pentagon?"

Louise lowered the intensity of her glare a bit. "Water, earth, wind, fire, and the founder's long lost legendary element of void form the Pentagon of magic." If she would have to bet on it, she would say that even commoners knew about the holy pentagon, so it made her wonder why he asked her to bring it up.

William rose from his and made his way to the classroom's door before turning around to face her again. "Well, guess five times."

"What do you mean-" Louise started before her eyes went wide and she froze. "No…" That was all she could mutter as she kept staring at him like he had grown a second head.

"You figured out quickly," he muttered and opened the door. "I'm going for lunch now, do you wanna join or should I pick up something for you?"

Instead of staring at him, Louise was now looking at the floor while staying completely still and silent.

"I'll… go get something for you," he said awkwardly and stepped outside leaving the pinkette behind with thousands of thoughts going through her head.

* * *

**AN: See you in a month or two. (Hopefully.)**


	4. Chapter 4

**I do not own Familiar of Zero.**

* * *

"It didn't go well as I planned," William admitted as he took another large step forward, almost making him do a split.

"You know, it would make a lot more sense if you just told me what 'it' is." Siesta's somewhat tired voice carried through the courtyard.

The lack of sleep was starting to take a hold of the maid and the still rising morning sun was trying its best to blind her already itching eyes. For a second there she forgot why she was even outside watching the wandless mage walk around carrying a large wooden pole with him.

But all she had to do to refresh her memory, was to look down and see her tray filled with different kinds of foods, and a small flag that William had asked her to bring with her.

The wandless mage took a few more steps to the right before addressing her. "From what I've heard, she always wished she would have known about it way before." He stopped and let out a small sigh as he used the wooden pole to dig a small hole in the grass. "But I should have considered several facts, before saying anything."

After setting the pole down he walked to her and took the flag. It was a dark blue triangle flag with a golden fox in the middle of it. He let out a chuckle as he looked at the fox. Siesta raised her brow and wondered what was special about, she had just taken it from nearby storage. But she didn't voice her question and just continued to observe as he walked back to the pole.

"But now that I think about it, everything that I can say could cause the same kind of reaction." He tied the flag to the pole with a simple yet firm knot and set the pole into the dug spot.

"Well, maybe you could try and test the waters before revealing something new." Siesta's suggestion made him let out a small sigh.

There wasn't much he could reveal without just telling it straight. Maybe he should just reveal everything in one go? William shook his head at the thought, there was no telling what would happen if he did that.

He directed his focus in the present and aimed the pole high in the air towards one of the five towers' roofs. After making sure the pole was staying in its spot he turned towards Siesta.

"But if you knew you would have to do something to achieve your goal, would you do it regardless of unknown consequences that could happen?"

"You sure are putting me on the spot," Siesta mused as William crouched next to the pole and set his palms against the grass next to it. "How I would approach such a dilemma. Well… depends on the situation. For example, if my family would be in danger then I would do anything to help them despite what would happen. Or at least try, I guess?"

William just nodded before focusing his willpower on his hands making them glow. Before the maid could ask what he was doing she felt the air current flow past her towards the pole. Leaves and some grass flew towards William's hands as they kept getting brighter and brighter until he simply lifted his hands off the ground.

As soon as he did that a loud sound that almost sounded like an explosion went through the yard, making every student who had decided to enjoy their meal outside look at them in annoyance.

What they saw was a nobleman crouching on the ground in front of a small mound of dirt and a maid holding onto a tray. But what Siesta saw that they didn't was the short flash as the wooden pole flew through the air and vanished into the horizon under a second.

The students started murmuring and complaining about how the zero's summoned noble broke their nice quiet peace. But it didn't last long before they got back to their meals, most of them had already gotten somewhat used to loud noises unexpectedly appearing during the day.

Siesta took a few steps towards William just slightly shaken from the sound. "W-what was that for?"

"I don't know." William's carefree answer and a shrug just confused the maid even more. "I read instructions for this from a book and decided to try it now that I'm here."

"You are one odd man William," Siesta said as she handed the tray to him now that his hands were free. "Is there anything else you need or can I return to my work?"

The wandless mage was about to let her go before an idea formed in his head. Although he heard his mother tell him how it was "a rocky start", maybe he could test the waters as Siesta said.

He lifted his gaze back to Siesta who was still waiting for his permission to leave. "Actually, Siesta there is one more request I have for you."

* * *

It could explain so much. It could, but it shouldn't.

There was no way her mentor's lie could be true. As far as Louise knew, there was no way void could be connected to her problematic magic. If she remembered correctly, there weren't many solid writings about the founder's magic other than in some religious texts.

Now that she thought about it, her mind picked up a memory from the time when she "visited" the restricted parts of the library in hopes to learn anything about her magic. She managed to find a book which told about how the founder formed a gigantic explosion-

She stopped thinking about it before it could go any further. There was no way her explosions were void of magic's side effects.

Every single mage had small side effects regarding their element. Usually, noble children manifested some kinds of effects during their childhood which could give some hints as to what their main element could be. For example, fire mages could generate heat just with their hands, earth mages could cause light soil to move around them, and so on.

Although there was no concrete knowledge about the side effects of void magic. The pinkette would say that constant explosions weren't part of it. If she truly was a void mage then her magical attempts wouldn't create anything. A fire mage wouldn't create anything if they were trying to do water-based spells. The only way fire mage could perform water spells is for them to have an affinity to water as well.

But then again. The founder did create the other branches of elemental magic, so it could mean that void's connection to the other elements could mean it could create some effects despite trying unsuitable spells.

Louise let out a frustrated sigh and slammed her forehead against the desk. Again her reasoning led towards a heretical conclusion, but she couldn't help it. One part of her wanted to make sense of her element and the other constantly reminded her of the teachings of the Brimiric religion.

"Why can't I be just a fire mage?" she found herself asking with a depressed voice.

At the beginning of her life as a mage, when her magic started to manifest. She thought that her explosions were caused by her problematic affinity to fire. Sure she would have wanted to be a wind mage just like her mother, but she would have settled for anything.

Later now though, she has come to loathe the thought of her being a fire mage thanks to a certain Germanian. It didn't mean that she hated everything regarding fire magic, it was just whenever she saw fire magic, she couldn't stop herself from remembering her rival's nerve cracking laugh and how she made it look so easy.

She took a few deep breaths to try and calm herself, she shouldn't let those kinds of things get the better of her now. There were already plenty of other things on her plate. And besides, she heard some steps approaching the classroom's door.

The door opened revealing the familiar cut of black hair and tan-skinned face peeking through it.

"Is it alright for me to enter?" Her teacher made himself known with a calm question. Nothing stopped her long sigh from escaping her as she waved for him to step inside.

He opened the fully letting her see a floating tray beside him, which followed him inside. With a small wave of his wrist, the classroom door closed by itself and he pointed towards her desk. The tray neatly floated to her desk and clattered as William ended his spell letting gravity take hold of it.

There was a good-sized piece of a pie, and with a small sniff, she instantly recognized it as one of her favorites. "How did you kno- actually don't answer that." Although she did manage to cut herself off, it did make William smirk a little.

"So, are you ready for an actual lesson, or should I give you more time?" Louise rolled her eyes and gestured towards the food she was eating. "Don't worry, you can listen while eating."

She let a small annoyed huff and pointed towards her notes. Although her magic caused some of the other students to doubt her noble status, she was raised by proper noble parents. And eating while writing notes would only lead to a mess if her luck had anything to with it.

William didn't seem to get her message and instead grabbed an apple off her tray. "I don't think you need to write this down." He took a bite and started speaking much to Louise's annoyance. "We are just going through the basics."

"First of all," Louise said once she finished her bite. "I have to write down everything here and present it to the teachers later on. It's the reason why I'm here."

As far as she was sure, the academy's staff were currently busy teaching everybody else and had plenty of other work that needed to be done. Well, that was what she thought, but the headmaster and some teachers made her wonder if they truly were busy as they said.

"And stop talking when you're eating! Weren't you taught any manners?"

"Well, you tried…" He saw his student give him another glare. "But anyway! We're not in a ball or something. And besides, the last time I ate was back when I was at home before I was summoned here by a certain Vallière."

Louise huffed and responded, "I wanted a manticore, not you!"

"Ouch!" he complained in a sarcastic tone. "Way to make somebody unwanted."

Before she could tell him that it wasn't what she meant he raised his hand cutting her off while still eating the apple. "But let the bygones be bygones."

The pinkette rubbed her brow to try and ease her headache. At least she had a whole bottle of wine on her tray, she was starting to think she would need some soon.

He finished his apple and a more serious expression took hold of his face. "And... I apologize for causing discomfort for you. Despite what you might think, it wasn't my intention. I just hope we can set our predicament aside _for now_ and move on to the subject at hand."

Louise was taken back a bit by his apologetic tone but nonetheless nodded in a sign of understanding.

"Alright," he started and walked right in front of the teacher's desk. "I can wait for you to finish your food and we can get started."

He didn't even have to wait five minutes before Louise had eaten her pie and set the tray on another desk right next to her's. The wandless mage could have sworn that he saw a small glint in his student's eyes as she took her notes

With a short cough, he cleared his throat and started his lesson. "We didn't get far, but if I remember correctly we were talking about willpower depletion, is that correct?"

Louise nodded while writing something down, making him raise his brow as he wondered what she was even writing about. But he ignored it for now and focused back on his teaching.

"I should've been more precise as to what I meant by willpower depletion. In truth, instead of depleting all of it, we leave a small part of it the body." He lifted the right sleeve of his white shirt, letting her see his forearm.

"As you know, mage's willpower originates from our bodies, hence why we grow exhausted under magical strain." A few spots of white light appeared on his skin. "The technique we'll be using today will help in training to control the flow of your willpower." The spots started gathering together before it started moving towards his fingers.

The wandless mage focused it towards his index and middle finger making it seem as if was just holding onto a small will-o-wisp. After a short movement of his wrist, the pinkette found herself looking at lines of light that formed her teacher's signature.

There was no denying that Louise was intrigued. She finally got to see wandless magic up close and despite it being just a fancy light show, it was something that nobody had done before in all of Halgenia's history!

Although now that she thought about it, there could be demons from the elven land that may have done something like that, but they weren't proper mages so they didn't count!

But as she was looking at the wandless magic happening in front of her. A question emerged from her head, one that had been on her mind since she heard about the willpower depletion.

"Why do we need to deplete our willpower?" she bluntly asked not even bothering to raise her hand since this wasn't a normal class.

William snapped his fingers making his signature vanish from the midair. "That's a good question," he started and leaned on the teacher's desk. "Simply put, it's easier to control a small amount of willpower instead of all of it. Sure you can try and learn wandless magic without the technique, but it could take _years_ just to reach the first step."

He lifted his arms and soon he was seemingly sitting on an invisible armchair hovering above the desk. He crossed his legs and let them rest on the desk while he leaned back on his seat.

"But as you can see, I can in theory use my entire body as a makeshift wand." Seemingly realizing something he stopped leaning on his seat eyes wide. "Not that you should. Trust me, a pal of mine tried and it didn't end well."

The mage in training wrote that down while William floated down so that he was sitting on the desk.

"Unfortunately training to do spells without the use of focus items is incredibly time-consuming which is one of the reasons why some of the people in my time still carry wands. And there's the risk of the spell not working, but with enough practice, can minimize the chance of failure.

"As for me." He tapped the right side of his hip and noticed the lack of familiar weight. "I like to use my sword that I forgot in my room. But as for the learning process, there's one simple way to explain it."

He repeated the hand motion he did before, making his hand glow again, and drew a simple staircase pattern with three steps each taller than the one before.

"Now then, there are three steps," he began but soon stopped to think for a while. "Well, now that I remember there are technically four steps to it," he said and drew a fourth step at the bottom of the staircase.

"The first step is the easiest one. After a day or a week of practice, you will be able to manifest some effects of your element in your hands." He lifted his left palm and just held it there.

Despite not doing anything Louise could faintly see the air move around his hand accompanied by small sparks of light. Her quill moved across her notes as she wrote everything down. Although he didn't seem to be focusing on it, she opted to be as detailed as she could. There was no telling what her magic could cause if she weren't careful enough.

"As you can see wind mages can cause the air to move around their hands. A water mage can make water droplets appear, and so forth.

"After you manage to do this, you can move on to step number two!" With a small flick of his wrist, Louise's inkwell floated to his hand. "The second step takes from a month to a year to learn. And after you've learned it, you can use all the spells mages can do regardless of their affinity such as levitation, telekinesis, or line, a spell which I have used to draw the steps."

Louise raised her hand and once she got his attention gestured for him to give her inkwell back and asked, "Does the third step involve elemental magic?" He gave a small smile and nodded. "Then what's the fourth step for?"

He walked to pinkette's desk and gave her inkwell back. "Well, as you figured the third step is all about learning to do elemental spells. It can take a couple of years up to a decade to learn to do it safely. As for the fourth step, it is just basically honing your skills and maybe do your special spell."

Louise spent a good minute thinking what he meant until it clicked and her eyes went wide. If she understood correctly with enough practice a single mage could release their most powerful spell with just the tips of their fingers.

An image of her mother releasing her signature spell The Heavy Wind with her hand made her feel a mixture of amazement and fright. Well, fright for those who would stand in her way if she was ever to learn to do it.

William didn't seem to notice his student shudder at her own thought and continued his lesson. "I'm still going through the fourth step and I require my sword to do my special move."

He glanced at the clock on the wall and muttered something to himself. Before Louise could ask what was on his mind, she heard a couple of knocks on the classroom's door.

"Ah, just in time!" He smiled and walked to the door.

Louise couldn't stop herself from wondering who might be at the door. Perhaps the wandless mage had invited another teacher or maybe he ordered some maid to get her more pie.

Unfortunately for her, it was neither. Instead what she saw once he had opened the door was a blue-haired girl wearing the academy's school uniform. She had red-trimmed glasses over her blue eyes and was holding onto a staff longer than herself. She was one of the few second-year students who were shorter than the pinkette. So it didn't take long for Louise to figure out who she was.

"Tabitha? Why are you here and-" The pinkette had to cut herself as her eyes widened in realization. Despite the blue-haired girl being rather reserved and quiet, for some reason, she usually liked to hang around with a certain boisterous woman.

Louise's fears were confirmed when she started seeing familiar strands of red hair in the doorway. She almost knocked her chair down and started her sprint towards the door.

By luck or some miracle, William didn't notice his student's sudden move and was just about to welcome the two newcomers inside. When a pink projectile went by his sight, slamming the door shut making him let out a small yelp.

He was sure that his hand would have not been spared If he had offered his handshake as a way to welcome the students inside. Luckily for him, he didn't have broken bones but he was still a bit shaken as he glanced down and saw his student laying on her back and glaring daggers at him.

"Did you just dropkick the door?" he asked while trying to make sense of the situation.

But his question fell to deaf ears as he found himself pulled by his vest again. She was holding onto him with her right hand, and using her back and left hand to hold the door closed as if there was a rampaging dragon on the other side.

"What were you thinking?" Louise yelled through her teeth while twisting her teacher's vest.

William tried to get her hand off him but this time it seemed that she was holding onto him with a lot more force than previously. "I thought it would be a good idea-"

"Good idea?" His answer just made the pinkette twist his vest even more much to his displeasure. "If she were to hear your lie about me, the whole academy will know about it!"

"What he said about you? Care to let me in little Louise." The sing sang voice of her rival came through the door, albeit a bit muffled, it still made Louise grind her teeth together.

With a frustrated sigh, the pinkette let go of him and turned towards the door. She gave him one final glance and muttered, "Stay here!"

After that, she opened the door and stepped outside. Judging from his student's constant yells of "go away", he would say she was currently pushing them away.

Where she was taking them or what she was doing to them, he didn't know. But he couldn't help but rub his forehead and let out a long sigh.

"A rocky start indeed."


End file.
